Rockford Files

What is the secret to the success of a TV series? Good writing. A great concept. A strong producer. Characters who fit the performers like a comfortable old shoe. The lighthearted detective series "The Rockford Files," which aired on NBC from 1974 to '80 and has recently joined the Arts & Entertainment network lineup, had all the necessary ingredients for hit status. The series' biggest calling card was its star, James Garner.

Legendary actress, singer and dancer Rita Moreno has been named the recipient of the 50th SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Moreno, 81, will receive the award at the 20th Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 18, which will be telecast live on TNT and TBS. "I am simply delighted that Rita Moreno is the 50th recipient of our SAG Life Achievement Award - the most prestigious honor we bestow," said Ken Howard, SAG-AFTRA co-president, in a statement Monday morning. PHOTOS: Celebrities by The Times Moreno is one of only 11 artists, and the only Latino, to have won an Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy Award.

JAMES GARNER, who co-stars with Paul Newman and Susan Sarandon in the upcoming movie "The Magic Hour," and his wife, Lois, have put their 400-acre Santa Ynez Valley ranch and newly built 8,000-square-foot house there on the market at $9.4 million. The couple, married 41 years, decided to sell the property because of his heavy workload, sources said. Garner, in his 60s, just finished "The Magic Hour," co-starring Gene Hackman. The movie, directed by Robert Benton, is to be released Dec. 19.

Reza Badiyi, a prolific television director whose credits included "Get Smart" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and who set a Directors Guild of America record for directing the most hours of episodic series television, has died. He was 81. Badiyi, who had been dealing with a number of medical issues in recent weeks, died Saturday at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, said family spokeswoman Bita Milanian. The Iranian-born Badiyi, who launched his filmmaking career making documentaries in Iran before moving to the United States in 1955, began directing for TV in the late 1960s.

Meta Rosenberg, Emmy-winning executive producer of the durable television series "The Rockford Files," talent agent and exhibited photographer, has died. She was 89. Rosenberg died Dec. 30 in her sleep of unspecified causes at her Beverly Hills home. Actor James Garner, one of Rosenberg's clients, brought her into producing in her late 50s when he asked her to work with him on "The Rockford Files." They created a hit series, starring Garner as a private eye, that ran on NBC from 1974 to 1980.

You'll have to do a lot of channel surfing Sunday night to catch all the new TV movies in the offing. * TNT premieres "For Better or Worse," a comedy starring and directed by "Seinfeld's" Jason Alexander, which had a brief, limited theatrical release last year, at 5 and 7 p.m. * John Schneider and teen idol Devon Sawa survive a tornado disaster in the Family Channel's "Night of the Twister," at 7 p.m.

Kenneth Johnson has seen this show before. A major network excitedly re-envisions an original television series and trumpets its latest reincarnation as if it were the second coming of "Friends." As the creator of the original series "Bionic Woman" and "V," Johnson knows sometimes the new vision works and sometimes it doesn't. (NBC's "Bionic Woman" didn't. "V," still on ABC and considered a bubble show for renewal next season, has so far.) With little more than a month left before the major networks announce their new fall schedules, a slew of iconic "re-envisioned" shows from previous decades are being considered for next season.

Regarding "Upwardly Mobile Homes" (July 24): In 1960, I spent the entire summer at Paradise Cove. I was 16 and in heaven. It was just the trailers in the lower section (no trailers on the bluff), and we were just below the highway. After a couple of days, you didn't even know the road was there. Our trailer was one of the smallest. With four kids it got tight, but I was rarely inside. I lived outside on the covered patio. I read with interest the description of the park as a campground.

June 4, 1989 | JENNIFER MERIN, Merin is a New York City free-lance writer

If you're looking for a terrific mementos of turn-of-the-century antiques, head for this friendly industrial city about 75 miles northwest of Chicago. Rockford's population of roughly 148,000 supports two sizable antiques malls with nearly 200 dealers, two Saturday and Sunday antiques flea markets with dozens of dealers and more than a dozen individual antique shops. They sell all sorts of American antiques, including furniture, farm equipment, kitchen utensils, gadgets, books, prints, toys, clothing and personal accessories.

Stephen J. Cannell, the prolific television writer and producer who co-created "The Rockford Files" and "The A-Team" and later became a bestselling novelist, has died. He was 69. Cannell died Thursday evening of complications associated with melanoma at his home in Pasadena, his family said. In a career that began in the late 1960s when he sold his first TV script and took off as he soon became the hottest young writer on the Universal lot, Cannell created or co-created more than 40 TV shows, including "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "Baretta," "The Greatest American Hero" and "21 Jump Street.

Stephen J. Cannell, the prolific television writer and producer who co-created "The Rockford Files" and "The A-Team" and later became a bestselling novelist, has died. He was 69. Cannell died Thursday evening of complications associated with melanoma at his home in Pasadena, his family said. In a career that began in the late 1960s when he sold his first TV script and took off as he soon became the hottest young writer on the Universal lot, Cannell created or co-created more than 40 TV shows, including "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "Baretta," "The Greatest American Hero" and "21 Jump Street.

Paradise Cove may finally be living up to its name, at least when it comes to the water. Over the years the Malibu beach had become known as much for its poor water quality as for being featured in the 1970s television series "The Rockford Files." This year, however, the gains made in the health of Paradise Cove mark one of the pieces of good news in the Beach Report Card released Wednesday by the Santa Monica nonprofit group Heal the Bay, which analyzes monitoring data at 326 beaches in California and assigns them A through F grades.

You are no longer loved, TV Theme Music, at least not by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which is threatening to decommission your category from its Emmy Awards. In its place, more or less, will be a new prize for "music composition for a non-fiction program." As if you could ever hum that. Many of us, I'll wager, had forgotten, or never knew, that they were giving you an Emmy at all — even before it was eliminated, your category was shut out of the prime-time telecast.

Kenneth Johnson has seen this show before. A major network excitedly re-envisions an original television series and trumpets its latest reincarnation as if it were the second coming of "Friends." As the creator of the original series "Bionic Woman" and "V," Johnson knows sometimes the new vision works and sometimes it doesn't. (NBC's "Bionic Woman" didn't. "V," still on ABC and considered a bubble show for renewal next season, has so far.) With little more than a month left before the major networks announce their new fall schedules, a slew of iconic "re-envisioned" shows from previous decades are being considered for next season.

Meta Rosenberg, Emmy-winning executive producer of the durable television series "The Rockford Files," talent agent and exhibited photographer, has died. She was 89. Rosenberg died Dec. 30 in her sleep of unspecified causes at her Beverly Hills home. Actor James Garner, one of Rosenberg's clients, brought her into producing in her late 50s when he asked her to work with him on "The Rockford Files." They created a hit series, starring Garner as a private eye, that ran on NBC from 1974 to 1980.

Regarding "Upwardly Mobile Homes" (July 24): In 1960, I spent the entire summer at Paradise Cove. I was 16 and in heaven. It was just the trailers in the lower section (no trailers on the bluff), and we were just below the highway. After a couple of days, you didn't even know the road was there. Our trailer was one of the smallest. With four kids it got tight, but I was rarely inside. I lived outside on the covered patio. I read with interest the description of the park as a campground.

Jim Rockford's return to television after a 15-year absence won an enthusiastic reception. CBS' new TV movie of "The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A.," with James Garner back as the easygoing private eye, won 28% of the available audience Sunday night and ranked No. 4 among the week's prime-time network programs, both nationally and in the local market. But what bore no similarity between national and local interest in the figures released Tuesday by the A.C. Nielsen Co. was "The Simpsons."

Stephen J. Cannell, the Emmy-winning writer-producer whose novel "The Devil's Workshop" was just released (William Morrow), and his wife, Marcia, have purchased a Laguna Beach home for $5.1 million. The Cannells, married for 35 years, maintain their main residence in San Marino. One of the most prolific contributors to TV programming, Cannell, 57, has created 38 action-adventure TV series, including "The Rockford Files," "The A-Team," "Baretta," "21 Jump Street" and "The Commish."

A lot of familiar faces are popping up this weekend on the small screen, including James Garner, Charles Nelson Reilly and Sarah, Duchess of York. Garner returns as L.A. private detective Jim Rockford in the new CBS movie "The Rockford Files: Murder and Misdemeanors," Friday at 8 p.m. on Channel 2. Charles Nelson Reilly reprises his "X-Files" role as author Jose Chung on Fox's "Millennium," Friday at 9 p.m. on Channel 11.